Hundreds of Angelenos will hit the sidewalks this November 22 for The Great Los Angeles Walk 2014 – the annual event that dispels the myth that “nobody walks in L.A.”
This year, for the ninth edition, the Great Los Angeles Walk is doing something different: We’re bringing the walk to the San Fernando Valley for the first time!
That means this year, participants will hike east down Ventura Boulevard. (Normally the Great Los Angeles Walk heads west, from downtown Los Angeles to the ocean.) It is, after all, a street made famous through countless songs (Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’”) and also considered the Valley’s main drag.
Participants will meet at Warner Center Park (also known as Warner Ranch Park – 5800 Topanga Canyon Blvd.) at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, and proceed to walk approximately 17.1 miles (at a casual, all-day pace) to North Hollywood.
Walkers will pass through Woodland Hills, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City and Universal City on their way to the end point: The Art Institute of California building in North Hollywood (5250 Lankershim). Along the way, they’ll see a wide range of architecture (Casa de Cadillac, Fleetwood Center, Mel’s, Valley Beth Shalom) and Valley sites – as well as CBS Studio Center, Universal Studios, Los Encinos State Historic Park and the historic Campo de Cahuenga monument site.
The Great Los Angeles Walk will conclude with an after party in North Hollywood at a location to be announced later.
This year’s Walk will also be the most transit-friendly yet, as both the start and end points are near the Metro Orange Line, making easy access for anyone who parks at either end.
L.A. journalist and blogger Michael Schneider launched the Great Los Angeles Walk in 2006 as a way to celebrate his tenth year in Los Angeles. Inspired by the book “Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles,” by Kevin Roderick (with research by J. Eric Lynxwiler), he decided to walk the street’s entire length.
In 2007, for an encore, he chose another downtown-to-the-ocean route: Pico Boulevard. The 2008 Walk took on Santa Monica Blvd. In 2009, the event kicked off in the historic West Adams district and walked to Venice Beach via Adams and Washington. In 2010, for its fifth edition, the Great Los Angeles Walk reprised its original Wilshire journey. In 2011, more than 250 Walk participants marched to the ocean via Hollywood Boulevard. In 2012, the Walk traveled across Melrose Avenue, and in 2013, Sunset Boulevard.
The Great Los Angeles Walk grew from dozens of participants to hundreds, and continues to expand each year as more Angelenos join in to explore their city on foot.
As always, the Walk is completely free. It is up to the participants to decide how much or how little of the walk they want to do. The Great Los Angeles Walk has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the L.A. Weekly, KABC-Channel 7, LAist.com and KNBC.com. In 2012, the LA Weekly recognized The Great Los Angeles Walk in its “Best of L.A.” issue.